Brian Joseph, 40, was born in Sri Lanka and spent his formative years in Pakistan, but his career working at top resorts and hotels has taken him all over the world. In 2001, he moved from the United Arab Emirates to the Bay Area to manage Turmerik restaurant in Sunnyvale, where he is co-proprietor with his brother Gratian, 36, and Gratian's wife, Justine Voong. They needed an executive chef, and the timing was right for them and for Bhargava.

It's uncommon for an executive chef to cook on the line regularly, but Bhargava, 50, likes being hands-on. He served as an executive chef in five- star hotels for the Taj Hotel Group during the first 15 years of his career. In India, the best restaurants are usually part of a hotel. Bhargava had a staff of 168 under him at the Taj Palace in New Delhi, 42 of them chefs. Yet at Turmerik, he said, "I never feel I am working for them. I feel it is more my restaurant."

Part of that might be because Voong and Gratian have taken lesser roles now that the restaurant is established. The two had met when they worked at the accounting and business consulting firm KPMG, and Gratian had lamented about the American renditions of the Pakistani and North Indian food. "I just couldn't get the quality of food I was used to," he said.

Voong, whose family owns several Chinese restaurants in Los Angeles and Denver, helped get the restaurant off the ground and created its sophisticated decor, but now she focuses on administering payroll and raising their two children. Gratian, who runs a tax software company, considers himself more of an investor and lets his brother manage the daily operations.

The family atmosphere extends beyond the involvement of three Josephs -- Bhargava's wife, Vinita, helps manage the restaurant in the mornings and works as a server when necessary. It's also not uncommon for the staff to go out on the town together.

In addition to the common tandoori, biriyani and curries, the menu offers rosemary naan bread, venison chops with toasted fenugreek and cranberry sauce, and wild boar chops with mango turmeric sauce, served with saffron mashed potatoes. "We don't need fusion in Indian food. It's already fusion," said Brian. He explained that the wild boar is not nouveau, either -- the maharajas enjoyed hunting.

In India, Bhargava oversaw four restaurants, including a Chinese and an Italian one, and catered for banquet halls hosting 4,000 to 7,000 guests daily. The banquet halls there are unlike those in the United States that tend to have a reputation for serving mediocre food in steam trays. Turmerik caters many events, particularly for Indian wedding receptions held at the Marriott in Santa Clara.

Bhargava was born to a third-generation Ayurvedic physician, but instead of carrying on the family tradition, he practices alchemy in the culinary arts. An award-winning athlete, he and a friend concocted energy protein balls when they were in high school, and the success of that venture prompted Bhargava to pursue a career as a chef. He is a graduate of the Institute of Hotel Management Catering and Nutrition-Pusa Delhi in New Delhi, which is the Indian equivalent of the Culinary Institute of America. Vinita is the daughter of his mentor, S.N. Talwai, the head of the Institute of Hotel Management Catering and Nutrition-Pusa Delhi.

Bhargava also graduated from the Culinary Institute of America's Advanced Culinary Arts Program in 1983. He moved to the United States in 1992 to serve as the executive chef at Washington's acclaimed Bombay Club. Unlike many Indian chefs who spin off a dozen curries from a single sauce base, Bhargava cooks everything from scratch. He makes his own yogurt for mango lassi and it takes him two days to prepare his coconut-chile shrimp soup scented with curry leaves.

Few Indian restaurants in the United States have a separate tandoori chef, but Turmerik has brought in Ramanuj Sahai, whose 20 years of experience includes cooking at New York City's Tamarind and working in the marination room at the highly regarded Bukhara at the Maurya Sheraton in Delhi. It takes seven years of apprenticeship to be allowed to work the marination room.

Bukhara's tandoori is so renowned that Clinton discreetly slipped in for his real dinner after making a brief appearance at a formal ambassador-hosted affair. Sahai is actually a vegetarian, but has such extensive experience with tandoori that he is able to cook without tasting.

Always looking for new ideas, Turmerik had a tasting menu this past spring focusing on particular spices. A sample of the highlighted spice was brought to the table for guests to savor the aroma.

Recently, the restaurant began offering a casual dining offshoot with items such as tandoori wraps and stuffed naan pizzas. The chicken pizza has ground chicken stuffed into naan dough and cooked in the tandoori. Then it is topped with curry tomato sauce, more chicken, and cheese, then baked in the oven.

The Josephs hope to add dishes from their native Sri Lanka to the menu in the future.